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All Main Fastest Growing Tourist Destinations are in Asia

According to the information provided by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), ten fastest growing tourist cities in the world are all located in Asia. Chinese cities are on the top of that list. We can expect more hotels in Shanghai in future as this city also leads in the Travel & Tourism spending and GDP category. Just ten years ago, the city was on the 6th place in this rating, so that’s a serious step forward.

In its newest report, Asia Pacific City Travel & Tourism Impact, WTTC analyzes 65 cities and the impact of travel and tourism to the creation of jobs and economy. 21 out of these 65 cities are in Asia Pacific. The choice of cities is not random  all of them were selected because of a great number of arrivals and traveler spending. It’s also important to mention that these key cities differently rely on the travel sector. For example, the share of tourism and travel in GDP of Cancun is 49.1%, while Los Angeles has a lot more diversified economy, so the share of the same sector in the city’s GDP is only 1.2%.

The growth of tourism is an important factor because it shapes the economy of cities, changing occupation of many people. Figures show that Asian cities have the fastest growing tourism and travel sector in the world. Chongqing leads with the growth of 14% per year, with Guangzhou and Shanghai being second and third with the growth of 13.1% and 12.8% respectively. Beijing hotels may enjoy even higher bookings as the city has the fourth fastest travel sector in the world (+12%). The cities that occupy places five to ten are the following: Chengdu (+11.2%), Manila (+10.9%), Delhi (+10.8%), Shenzhen (+10.7%), Kuala Lumpur (+10.1), and Jakarta (+10%).

The average global growth rate is 4%, and the average growth rate across Asia Pacific is 5.8%, so it’s clear that the cities mentioned above outpace these figures. The contribution of the travel sector to the city GDP is also the highest in Asia. For example, the contribution of tourism to GDP of Shanghai is US$30 billion  the highest in the world. The second place is occupied by Beijing with the result of US$27 billion.

It’s also important to notice that such success of Asian cities is mostly driven by the domestic travel. For example, Chinese visitors are responsible for nearly 95% of travel spending in Chongqing. The report also contains some interesting information. For example, Bangkok hotels and tourism infrastructure generate as much as US$18.2 billion a year  that’s 10% of the city’s economy and a half of the country’s tourism sector. The travel industry of just two Indian cities, Delhi and Mumbai, provides jobs for 1 million people. Singapore, in its turn, has managed to double its travel and tourism sector within just ten years, reaching a total of US$12.4 billion last year.